Professors Stephanie Padgett and Ryan Thomas Selected for University of Missouri Faculty Scholars Program

The Program Creates Avenues for Collaboration Across the 4 Campuses of the UM System

Columbia, Mo. (Aug. 6, 2013) — Two Missouri School of Journalism professors – Stephanie Padgett and Ryan Thomas – have been accepted into the 2013-14 class of the University of Missouri Faculty Scholars program.

Stephanie Padgett
Stephanie Padgett

The program is designed to assist faculty in their second, third and fourth years of UM employment as they adjust to new academic responsibilities and environments. It also will introduce them to innovative teaching methods, to support them in their scholarly work and to provide opportunities for them to network within their own campus as well as across the four campuses of the University of Missouri System.

Ryan Thomas
Ryan Thomas

Padgett is an assistant professor and a member of the strategic communication faculty. She teaches classes in media strategy and planning, is co-facilitator of YAYA (Youth and Young Adult) Connection and serves as director of media, research and operations for MOJO Ad, the student-staffed advertising agency that specializes in the YAYA market. Padgett is the faculty adviser for the Missouri American Advertising Federation chapter and National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) team. During the 2009-10 academic year, Padgett served as a fellow at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, where she studied ways for small to mid-size newspapers to increase their revenue from online advertising.

Thomas is an assistant professor and a member of the journalism studies faculty. He teaches courses in mass communication theory, qualitative research methods, media ethics, and cross-cultural journalism. Thomas’ research has won a number of awards from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and National Communication Association, including the 2009 AEJMC/Kappa Tau Alpha/University of Hawaii Carol Burnett Award for outstanding scholarship in media ethics.

Padgett and Thomas will join other participants at three system-wide retreats throughout the year. Columbia-campus activities will include a variety of learning opportunities that will address topics designed to support faculty development, faculty roles in student success and faculty networking opportunities.

Updated: July 17, 2020

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